Have you ever noticed that we define our lives by significant events?
Let me explain…if we had recently met and were starting a friendship, after we got through all of the “What’s your name?” “Where do you live?” “What’s your job?” business, and we started to get to know each other a little better, we’d likely go over our personal histories. We’d start to share a bit about what makes us tick. Most likely, we’d hit the highlights, the significant times in our lives that stand out, the mountaintops. So, for me, I’d start telling you about some of the biggies in my life…how I came to faith in Jesus, when I met Christa, when we got married, the night that Silas was born, that time in college where I consumed an absurd amount of chicken wings on an all-you-can-eat night…you know the important stuff. The triumphs. The mountaintops. These would be the significant details that I would share with you, those things that I point to in my life that define who I am as a person.
This is true when we look at our lives as a whole, but it also holds true whenever we shorten the timespan, say to like a week. Even after we’ve become friends, if you ask me about my week, I’d still hit the highs, the peaks…like the cinnamon rolls with icing that I baked…from scratch…with yeast (a previous sermon nod…you’d have to have been there), or the beautiful sunrise that I witnessed, or the work that has been accomplished in the room we’re remodeling. I’d point out the highs, the significant, positive events that happened within the last week or so. Granted, these highlights might not make the lifetime highlight reel (the cinnamon rolls were good…but they weren’t that good), but I’d still use them to describe my life and what is happening in it.
I define and describe myself by the big things, the important stuff, the mountaintop experiences. These are the things that stand out. These are the markers to which I point to share about who I am, and I’m not alone in this type of description and definition. In part, we all define ourselves by our mountaintop experiences, and typically, these are the things that we are most likely to share with others.
But, if our relationship grew, and trust was gained, and the friendship deepened, I’d also begin to share about some of the low points in my life. Those failures or circumstances that I look back on and realize that I have been defined by them too. I’d share about the losses I’ve experienced, the hurts that I have endured. I’d share about the times that life didn’t go so well, that I was broken or bruised, disappointed or let down. As our relationship developed, I’d let you in on those significant, negative events that have occurred. I’d share with you the valleys. Though most of us are usually not as open about them, we are defined by our valleys as well…perhaps even more so than by our mountaintops.
Peaks and valleys. Hills and dales. Highs and lows. Some of them aren’t that significant. Cinnamon roll highs and burnt toast lows. We remember them for a short period, but they’re quickly forgotten. Others are life-defining events, highs as lofty as Mount Everest (a marriage, a birth, etc.), lows as bleak as Death Valley (the loss of a loved one, bankruptcy, etc.). There are significant happenings that occur that forever change how we describe ourselves, how we define who we are and the experiences that we have been through, there are things that happen that stick with us for good.
Like the rest of us, Moses was a man who experienced significant, life-defining highs and lows (I’m going to mention a number of them, but if you want to read the Scriptures, look in the book of Exodus, starting in Chapter 2.). He was hidden by his mother as a baby when it had been ordered for all Israelite babies to be killed (a high in the midst of a terrible low point for the nation of Israel), he was put into a basket and set in a river (a low…but a caring one. His sister watched over him, and it was a way of rescuing his life…even though it meant separation from his mother), he was rescued from the river by Pharaoh’s daughter (high), he was then returned to his mother to be nursed (high), he was raised in a palace (high), he had compassion for his fellow Israelites (high), but he was misguided in how to help and killed a man (low), he fled for his life (low), he resided in a desert for 40 years (low…for a long period with some highs mixed in like getting married and having kids). Then, God spoke to him in a bush that was burning but didn’t burn (high), he was asked to lead the nation of Israel (high?), he said he was unable and doubted God (low), he confronted Pharaoh (high), he followed God and led the Israelites out of Egypt (high), God used him in the parting of the Red Sea (high), he met with God on a mountain and received the 10 Commandments along with other instructions (high), only for him to come down and see that the rest of the nation was worshipping some absurd statue of a cow (low). He subsequently broke the tablets on which the commandments had been written (low). He met with God on the mountain again and received the second printing of the commandments by the finger of God on stone tablets (high). He faithfully led Israel through a long period of wandering and trial in the desert (high), but in his frustration, he struck a rock for water when God had asked him to do otherwise (low), and he was prevented from entering the promised land (low).
In just a short period, Moses’ life can be defined by running over the highlight & lowlight reel. We can see all of these experiences, good and bad, and figure that we know enough about Moses, we have Moses down to a tee, but I’m not convinced that is the case. Even though we like to define ourselves and others by our highest highs and our lowest lows, that is not all that there is to it. There is something that happens in the everyday, mundane, day-to-day existence that speaks to who we are and what we might become.
Moses spent 40 years in the palace. 40 years! And we have precious little detail on that time. We do know, however, that his time in the palace prepared his heart to care for his fellow Israelites. When he saw the suffering of one of his people, he responded (not in the right way, but he did respond) (Exodus 2:11-12). Something worked within Moses while he was in the palace to develop a heart for the people he was to lead. He was living the good life, in the lap of luxury, and yet his heart developed compassion. Moses was prepared for leadership for the first 40 years of his life, and we condense it to a couple of sentences, we summarize with a few notes about the highs and the lows.
Then, Moses spent another 40 years in the wilderness in the land of Midian, caring for his father-in-law’s sheep. 40 more years! Again, we have precious little detail on that time. We hear the start when he flees from Pharaoh and he gets married (Exodus 2:15-25), but then there’s nothing until God speaks to him through the bush that is burning but isn’t burning as it’s burning but not burning (it’s a weird thing, that bush) (Exodus 3). Again, we summarize with a few notes about the highs and the lows.
But what do we miss? What are we overlooking when we just hit the highs (and sometimes the lows)?
We miss the grind. We miss the day-to-day work that God is doing in the background. We miss the processing and working and smoothing and re-working and processing and working and working and working that takes place. We miss the years and years and years of faithfulness (or unfaithfulness depending on the person). When we just look at the highs and the lows, we miss all of that middle ground, and it’s often in that middle ground that God does a lot of the preparing and transforming and renewing and restoring, getting us ready for the next significant moment, whether it is a high point or a low one. Moses spent a total of 80 years in preparation before he was called to lead the Israelites. That’s a looonnnnggg time of God working on him on a day-to-day basis. Not only that, but once he was done, it wasn’t like it was just a hop, skip and a jump to their destination. No, he spent another 40 years wandering through another wilderness, leading the Israelites to the Promised Land.
Friends, we’re just coming out of Easter Sunday, a day that is often a high point of our year, but maybe this year it looked more like a low. Right now, this day, we are somewhere in the middle ground of a season that looks like it is a wilderness, a valley. Easter is behind us, and who knows what lies ahead. At the very least, we are in a season of instability within our nation, uncertainty with our future, and inability to live as normal. Right now, we do not know when this season will end, but at some point in the future, we will look back on this coronavirus season and we will be able to define it as a marker within our lives. It is a significant time.
The question, though, remains: How will we allow God to prepare us during this time? How will we allow God to mold us, to shape us? How will we allow God to work within our lives when each day blends into the next, when each week goes into the next, when we start to forget the days of the week let alone know the date?
When Moses was in the palace and then in the wilderness of Midian, God wasn’t sleeping, he wasn’t delaying. He was using that time, getting Moses ready, ready for the next step. And that next step, leading the Israelites out of Egypt to the promised land, took a lot of preparation.
We do not know what is next, or when this season will end, but my hope is that we will allow God to utilize this time. Please don’t just waste it all away with the television (I’m not saying don’t watch any. I am saying don’t make that all you do.). Please don’t just wish it away, longing for a mountaintop to return again. Seek God. Spend time with Jesus. Ask God to work within your life to prepare you, to mold you, to shape you, to utilize this time for whatever purposes God wishes to accomplish.
After all, Romans 8:28 reminds us: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Even this. Even this daily drudgery and grind. Even this uncertainty and difficulty. Even this can be used of God. Who knows, when we look back years from now, we may look at this season as a peak…when we met God more closely, when we relied on God more fully, when we heard his voice more clearly, when we walked in truth more faithfully, when we sought his favor more diligently, when we spent time in prayer more earnestly. May God use even this time for his will and his glory.
Pastor Chris
